[General] When I did my homework

[Anil Giria]

When I did my homework, I had a good idea.

Is the above sentence correct?

 

[MikeNewYork]

It is grammatical.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what this sentence is supposed to mean. What idea did you have after doing your homework? I do believe you need to clarify what your idea was about because otherwise it sounds clumsy to my non-native speaker ears.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It does leave one wondering.

 

[Barb_D]

I feel the intended meaning was, "while I was doing my homework, I had a good idea."

 

[MikeNewYork]

That still leaves one wondering.

 

[Anil Giria]

I feel the intended meaning was, "while I was doing my homework, I had a good idea."

Yes. Can I use "did" in place of "was".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think you can't, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Anil Giria]

I think you can't, but I am not a teacher.

Why we can't use "did" in place of "was".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think this is because 'someone did doing something' is ungrammatical, but I am not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

You are correct, Matthew.

 

[Tdol]

Why we can't use "did" in place of "was".

Because the past progressive is made with was/were + -ing, and the negative uses wasn't/was not or weren't/were not. We use didn't with the past simple (went/said, etc become didn't go/say, etc).